Madagascar RAP: Diego Suarez

As part of an international team of marine scientists, CI’s Marine Climate Change Manager – and seagrass expert – Dr. Giuseppe Di Carlo and photographer Keith Ellenbogen are spending the next three weeks exploring ecosystems, documenting species – and reporting back to us about what their team has found. Read all their blog posts here.

This is Keith, the RAP photographer, blogging today from CI’s office in Antsiranana–a northern village that is also referred to by the Portuguese colonized name, Diego Suarez. Diego is a small fishing village well-known for its port, through which European and populations from the West Indian Ocean have come and gone over the centuries.

Today our group is briefing on logistics and discussed our scientific research objectives. We will spend the next three weeks at sea and we need to make sure everything is ready. A few of us also went to visit the boat, meet our captain, Nicolas and his wife Anna, and make sure they are ready for this endeavor. The scientists are discussing how to gather data related to the abundance, resilience and diversity of fish, corals, echinoderms, seagrass and algae. I listen, thinking about how I will fit my photos into this madness.

We make one final trip to the market to buy the last round of supplies. Tomorrow morning we’ll get on the boat and set sail.

More to follow soon…meanwhile, click on the map below to check out our itinerary!